Automatic hand firearm with interchangeable magazine

ABSTRACT

An automatic firearm is provided with a magazine support structure which is fixed to the firearm and which includes magazine engaging lips located in the firearm in the conventional position, and a cartridge feeder member which is displaceable in the support structure by a feeder spring disposed at the free end of the support structure. The support structure has a lateral opening for inserting therein a magazine containing cartridges. Means are provided for releasably closing the opening. A flat tubular magazine is disclosed which is open at both ends, one of which is adapted to be engaged and secured by the magazine lips, the other one is arranged to be entered by the feeder member for delivering the cartridges to the breech. The magazine may be used as a packaging container for the cartridges.

[ 1 June 5, 1973 111,381 8/1925 Switzerland.............. ....42/88647,847 7/1937 Germany..................................42/O

Primary Examiner-Benjamin A. Borchelt Assistant Examiner-C. T. JordanAtt0rneyCraig, Antonelli & Hill [57] ABSTRACT An automatic firearm isprovided with a magazine support structure which is fixed to the firearmand which includes magazine engaging lips located in the firearm in theconventional position, and a cartridge feeder member which isdisplaceable in the support structure by a feeder spring disposed at thefree end of the support structure. The support structure has aINTERCHANGEABLE MAGAZINE Inventors: Tilo Moller; Dieter Ketterer, bothof 7238 Oberndorf, Germany Assignee: Heckler & Koch Gmbl-l, Oberndorf(Neckar), Germany Filed: June 15, 1971 Appl. No.: 153,349

Foreign Application Priority Data June 19, 1970Germany.....................P 228.7

United States Patent Moller et al.

541 AUTOMATIC HAND FIREARM WITH lateral opening for inserting therein amagazine containing cartridges. Means are provided for releasablyclosing the opening. A flat tubular magazine is disclosed which is openat both ends, one of which is adapted to be engaged and secured by themagazine lips, the other one is arranged to be entered by the feedermember for delivering the cartridges to the breech. The magazine may beused as a packaging container for the cartridges.

18 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures 028 00 0 5mg 25 M 42 00 "n S n 6R mm N m u2 n O H 4 mm. N S mm A m 0 T m." C m l N u n n u n E mm P m c d T. n m mA mm A n um i P mm a "m m S mm R m .j w m m o m u S n m A mm T m m r T eN r nu h S AF E G e D T R Hm E EM A M n 99 P w U H N H 0 0 U H G d H StdR s o 7 98 0 7 7 5 F 1]] l 00 M 2 8 6 m 4 5 5 ,7 [ii i 21 PATENTEDJUH5197s I 3,736,686

SHEET 1 [1F 5 INVENIORS TILO M'o'lLER and DIETER KETTERER Y oax flmoww 92 ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJUH 5197s 3. 736.686

sum 2 UF 5 INVENTORS TILO M'o'LLER and DIETER KETTERER BY 01mgQntowLQl-l -9 Hill! ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJUN 5 I973 SHEET 3 UF 5 INVENTORSTILO Mb'LLERM DIETER KETTERER BY Can/L9 Omtovmmli 8 Him ATTORNEYSPATENIEDJUH 5 I975 SHEET 4 0F 5 IN VENTORS TILO MZJ'LLER a DIETERKETTERER BY cm- OMtomJlQL 9 Hum ATTORNEYS PATENTEDJUH 5 I975 3. 736 686sum 5 OF 5 INVENTORS TILO M 6m. ER

and DIETER KETTERER BY c qg fimtwnlt '6 H 321 ATTORNEYS AUTOMATIC IIANDFIREARM WITH INTERCIIANGEABLE MAGAZINE This invention relates to anautomatic hand firearm, in particular an automatic rifle with aninterchangeable magazine.

Automatic hand firearms have a high firing rate so that provisions mustbe made for a sufficiently large store of cartridges and a fast feed ofthe stored cartridges, if the advantage of an automatic hand firearm isto be fully exploited. Therefore, removable or interchangeable magazineshave become important for automatic hand firearms, in particularmagazines of the flat tubular kind. The latter are casings consistinggenerally of sheet metal which are provided at one end" a with magazinelips and which comprise in their interior a spring loaded feeder memberwhich urges cartridges disposed in the casing in the direction towardsthe magazine lips against which the respective foremost cartridge comesto rest. Recesses for these magazines are provided in the hand firearms,in particular a duct into which the upper end of the magazine having themaga zine lips can be inserted and detained by means of a latch. Duringfiring, the breech of the firearm presses individual cartridgessuccessively out of the magazine, in the direction of the magazine lips,while the feeder member pushes the column of cartridges located in themagazine forward in such manner that the respective uppermost cartridgerests against the magazine lips and is ready to be inserted into thebarrel of the firearm by means of the breech.

These known magazines admittedly attain their object of providing asufficient number of cartridges and of feeding them sufficiently fast tothe firearm in a perfect manner, however they have the disadvantage thatthe cartridges must be individually inserted into these magazines byhand and in a laborious manner so that the loading of the magazinesrequires considerable time; for this reason ammunition required for anoperation must be carried by a marksman in the form of full magazines.However, the quantity of ammunition which a marksman can thus carry withhim is considerably determined also by the not insignificant weight ofsuch magazines. Furthermore, it is also expensive when a large number ofmagazines must be available for each marksman. Neither the weight northe cost of such magazines can be reduced below certain limits because amagazine must have high stability in order that it can reliably attainits object under very rough operational conditions in the field.Nevertheless it happens again and again that magazines and particularlytheir lips are deformed by a knock or a shock for example by a fall orwhen dropped, and cannot then function any more in a perfect manner.Such deformation can have particularlysevere consequences if it remainsunnoticed by the marksman until it leads to loading interruptions causedeither by the cartridges not being delivered perfectly or, however, notbeing held properly in the path of the breech.

Admittedly it is also known from repeating rifles to provide in thefirearms themselves magazines with built-in feeder member and withmagazine lips; however, these arrangements have the disadvantage thatfor loading the cartridges must then be inserted into the magazines moreor less individually, under certain circumstances with the use ofcartridge belts. In proportion to the time in which the cartridgescontained in the magazine can be fired, the time required for thisloading operation is far too long as that it could still be regarded inkeeping with the character of an automatic hand firearm.

The invention is based on the object of avoiding the disadvantages ofautomatic hand firearms, which are caused by the use of removable orinterchangeable magazines.

This object is attained according to the invention in that magazineslips as well as a feeder member and a feeder spring are component partsof a firearm and that an interchangeable magazine consists of a hollowbody which encloses a space serving for receiving cartridges, the hollowbody preferably forming the packaging container of the cartridges,-oneend of the hollow body a being adjacent to the magazine lips and theother end thereof being engaged by the feeder member.

In the hand firearm according to the invention those component parts ofthe magazines used heretofore, namely the magazine lips and the feederarrangement, are thus located on the rifle itself, whereas theintervening section of the conventional magazines which consists only ofthe hollow body containing the cartridges, is now constructed in theinterchangeable manner. The particular advantage of this constructionconsists in that the magazine, which, according to the invention, nowcomprises only the hollow body serving for accommodating the cartridges,is so simple to construct and therefore so economical to produce thatthe marksman need not preserve it but can throw it away after thecartridges have been spent. Also the cartridges may be packed directlyin such interchangeable magazines, so that the marksman need no longeroccupy himself with the insertion of cartridges into a magazine. Sincethese magazines are not subjected to high stresses and need not be usedmore than once, they can be produced in a very light manner, so that theweight of these magazines does not noticeably increase the load carriedby the marksman. A further advantage consists in that sensitive parts ofthe conventional magazines, in particular the magazine lips, are nowdisposed at a protected location in the firearm itself, so that loadinginterruptions by damaged magazines cannot occur any more and also theexpenses are avoided which arose heretofore in connection with thereplacement of damaged magazines.

The proposal of the invention referred to above of arranging themagazine lips as well as the feeder device of the firearm and oflimiting the interchangeable magazine to a hollow body which is open atboth ends and which encloses the space serving to accommodate thecartridges, can be made use of independently of whether the firearm isarranged to receive a tubular magazine or a drum magazine. In each case,care must be taken that one end of the magazine constructed inaccordance with the invention can be attached to the magazine lips andthat then the feeder member can be inserted under pressure into theopposite end of the magazine. When a tubular magazine is used it couldbe envisaged e.g. to provide on the firearm a magazine duct a lower endpart of which is removable or pivotal to permit insertion of themagazine after the feeder device has been displaced into this lower endpart.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a magazine support structureor duct accordingly provided on the firearm comprises at the upper endthe magazine lips and encloses the feeder member and the feeder spring,but in this case the one side wall has an opening for inserting themagazine. This construction of the hand firearm according to theinvention has not only the advantage that the magazine duct forms aperfect guide for the feeder member and a satisfactory holder for themagazine, but also removable or pivotal parts are avoided which couldmake handling of the firearm difficult. Also a cable which projects fromthe lower end of the magazine duct and is attached to the feeder memberis sufficient in this case for pulling the feeder member into the lowerpart of the magazine duct to effect a change of the magazine, the feedermember then being located below the lower end of a magazine insertedinto the magazine duct. Although other spring arrangements, eg with theuse of roll springs, can also be envisaged, such constructional form ofthe invention is particularly simplified if the magazine duct isprovided with a bottom member on which the feeder spring which is in theform of a helical compression spring is supported and the cable extendsthrough a bore in the bottom member. Furthermore, A hollow end membermay be located in the lower end of the magazine duct the walls of whichend member are flush with the walls of an inserted magazine. This endmember may simply be a section of a magazine which is inserted into thelower part of the magazine duct and is fixed therein. The particularadvantage of the use of such end member resides in the fact that aperfectly stepless transition is present from the lower section of themagazine duct to the interior of an inserted magazine which transitionensures that the feeder member enters perfectly into the magazine andcannot be detained by a projecting section of the magazine.

If it is desirable that the opening provided in a side wall of themagazine duct for interchanging the magazine is to be closed in orderthat entry of dirt or moisture into this opening as well as disturbancesin consequence of a displacement of the magazine are prevented or atleast greatly impeded, the magazine duct may be surrounded by a sleevewhich is telescopically displaceable thereon. In its rest position thissleeve covers the opening in the magazine duct and to permit interchangeof the magazine, the sleeve can be withdrawn from the duct to suchextent that the opening is released. In this embodiment of the inventiona particular advantage is obtained when the cable attached to the feedermember is also attached to the lower end of the sleeve which ispreferably closed by a bottom member, because upon withdrawal of thesleeve from the magazine duct not only the opening serving forinterchanging the magazine is then released, but also at the same timethe feeder member is pulled into the section of the magazine duct whichis downwardly adjacent to the opening. If the sleeve is additionallyarranged to be detained on the duct in a position in which it releasesthis opening, the opening in the magazine duct can be released and thefeeder member can be displaced and held in a position in which aninterchange of the magazine is possible, by a single manipulation namelyby withdrawing the sleeve. After removing and discarding an emptymagazine and inserting a new full magazine, a further manipulation issufficient for releasing the detent and moving the sleeve back into itsstarting position in which it covers the opening in the magazine ductand releases the feeder member again.

In order to effect this detention of the sleeve a spring a loaded pawlmay be mounted in a simple manner on a wall of the sleeve, e.g. on thewall forming the forward narrow side, a lip of this pawl penetratingthrough this wall and engaging in detent grooves which are disposed onthe adjacent wall of the magazine duct. In order that these detentgrooves have sufficient stability for securely holding the sleeve loadedby the feeder spring, a rail may be provided on the wall of the magazineduct which has interruptions serving as detent grooves.

In this embodiment of the invention preferably a further detent positionfor the sleeve is additionally provided in which the upper edge of thesleeve has a spacing of at least one finger width from abutment facesfor this edge and/or the edge of the opening for inserting the magazine.This additional detent position ensures that if the sleeve slipsaccidentally out of the hand of the marksman during opening or closing,he cannot receive injuries owing to the fact that the fingers of hisother hand enter between the forward edge of the closing sleeve andstationary firearm parts disposed opposite this edge.

The invention extends also to a magazine for a hand firearm of the kindreferred to above. In a simple form such magazine may consist of ahollow body preferably serving directly as a packaging container whichis cylindrical or slightly curved in its longitudinal direction andwhich has substantially uniform cross section, that is to say it maycorrespond in its middle section to the tubular magazines usedheretofore. Since, however, in the magazine according to the invention,or also in the packaging container according to the invention, neithermagazine lips are provided at the one end, nor a bottom member ispresent at the other end and, under certain circumstances, covers orother closures possibly provided must be removed prior to the insertionof the magazine or the packaging container into the firearm, a resilientrail with depressions suitable for the inserted cartridges is disposed,in a preferred embodiment of the invention, on the inside of at leastone side wall of the hollow body. Such rail affords sufficient supportto the cartridges in order to retain them in the hollow body during themanipulation of the magazine. Nevertheless the feeder member pushes thecartridges reliably through the hollow body in a perfect manner. Theresilient rail may advantageously consist of a synthetic resin stripinserted into an undercut groove of the side wall, and a resilientelement may then be disposed between the bottom of the groove and therear side of the strip. This spring element may be e.g. a simple stripof foam material; however, in view of long storage ability and constancyof the spring characteristic over a wide temperature range, use of ablade spring is preferred.

When the magazine according to the invention is constructed for a doublerow arrangement of cartridges it is suitably provided with resilientrails on its two side walls.

Further features and constructional details of the invention may be seenfrom the following description in which the invention is described andexplained in detail in relation to the constructional examplesillustrated in the accompanying drawings. The features which may be seenfrom the description and the drawings may be used in other embodimentsof the invention individually by themselves or severally in anycombination. There are shown in:

FIG. 1 is the side view of a rifle according to the invention,

FIG. 2 illustrates a section along the line [I II through the rifleaccording to FIG. 1, on an enlarged scale,

FIG. 3 illustrates the section of the rifle according to FIG. 1comprising the magazine arrangement, partly in side view and partlysection along the line 111 III in FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 illustrates the arrangement according to FIG. 3 after removal ofthe magazine,

FIG. 5 illustrates a section along the line V V through the arrangementaccording to FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a side view of a magazine intended for the rifle according toFIG. 1, and

FIG. 7 illustrates the magazine according to FIG. 6, partly inlongitudinal section and partly in the view in the direction of thearrow VII.

An automatic rifle illustrated in FIG. 1 as a constructional examplecomprises a firearm casing 1, a barrel 2 whichis surrounded along partof its length by a hand protector 3, a grip member 4 which closes thefirearm casing downwardly, a magazine arrangement 5 dis posed forwardlyof the grip member 4, and a shoulder support 6 which closes the firearmcasing 1 and the grip member 4 backwardly.

-As may be seen from FIGS. 2 to 5, a magazine arrangement 5 comprises amagazine support structure or duct 11 which consists in the presentexample of a box open on one wide side and which is rigidly connected tothe firearm casing 1, e.g. by welding. At the upper end of the duct 11there are provided magazine lips 12 which are also rigidly connected tothe duct 11 and to the firearm casing 1, e.g. again by welding. Thisduct 1 1 has a bottom 13, and a hollow end member 14 is inserted intothe lower part of the duct and has in crosssection approximately thesame internal dimensions as a magazine 15 to be inserted into the duct.Within this end member 14 a feeder spring 16 of conventionalconstruction is supported on the bottom 13 of the duct and tends topress a feeder member 17 disposed in the duct 11 in the directiontowards the magazine lips 12. The cross-section of the duct 11 ismatched to the crosssection of the magazine 15 and the existing sidewall 18 of the duct is consequently provided in the region of its centerwith a longitudinal rib 19 which rests against a correspondinglongitudinal rib 20 of the magazine 15.

. Each of the two side walls of the magazine 15 is provided with suchlongitudinal rib 20.

' The duct 11 is surrounded on its whole length by a sleeve 21 thecross-section of which is adjusted to the cross-section of the duct 11and the magazine 15 and moreover has the same curvature in thelongitudinal direction as the magazine 15 and the duct 11, so that thesleeve 21 is telescopically displaceable on the duct 11. The sleeve 21consists of a hollow sheet metal body which is closed at its lower endby a slide cover 22. Similarly to the magazine 15 and the duct 11 thesleeve is provided with a longitudinal rib 23 on the major part of itslength. On both sides of these longitudinal'ribs 23 there are locatedtransverse ribs 24 which serve for stiffening the sleeve as well forimproving its grip.

A pawl 26 is pivotally mounted near the upper end of the sleeve 21 onthe outside of a wall thereof which, considered in the direction offiring, forms the forward narrow side of the sleeve. This pawl supportson its downwardly directed arm a lip 27 which extends through an opening28 in the wall 25 of the sleeve. The

pawl 26 is loaded by a spring 29 which tends to press the lip 27 intothe opening 28.

The wall 25 of the sleeve 21 provided with the pawl 26 is disposed at acertain spacing from the adjacent wall 30 of the duct 11. A longitudinalrail 31 is provided on the outside of this wall 30 and has interruptions32 and 33 which serve as detent grooves for the lip 27 of the pawl 26.Moreover an end face 34 at the lower end of the longitudinal rail 31serves as abutment face for the pawl 26.

A cable 35 is attached to the feeder member 17 and extends through thewindings of the feeder spring 16 to the bottom 13 of the duct 11 andfurther through an opening 36 in this bottom and through a slot 37 inthe slide cover 22 of the sleeve 21. The end of the cable 35 whichprojects from the slide cover 22 of the sleeve 21 is provided with ahead 38 which is supported on the outside of the slide cover 22. As maybe seen from FIG. 4 the cable 35 is tensioned when the feeder member 17is in its uppermost position, when the magazine is absent or empty,whereas the cable lies loosely within the compressed feeder spring 16when the feeder member 17 is in its lower position as illustrated inFIG. 3. The cable 35 as indicated by broken lines in FIG. 3 mayalternatively hang freely out of the slide cover 22 and indicate by thelength of its section 35' which hangs out of the slide cover to whichextent the magazine is filled.

The magazine 15 consists of a hollow body of synthetic resin which isopen at its two ends and which can be produced e.g. by moulding, butalternatively also by extrusion, in large lengths and can then be cut toa desired length. The cross-sectional dimensions of the magazine 15 areso selected that it accommodates cartridges 41 in two mutually offsetrows. A rib or rail 42 projecting inwardly from the forward narrow sideof the magazine 15 serves for guiding the points of the cartridges,whereas rib or rails 43 projecting inwardly from the side walls provideguidance of the cartridges in the region of the forward ends of thecartridge casings. Furthermore, the magazine 15 is provided in theregion of the outwardly projecting longitudinal ribs 20 with resilientrails on the insides of its side walls which are rails formed by strips44 of synthetic resin. These synthetic resin strips are provided ontheir side adjacent to the magazine wall with laterally projecting edgesby which they engage into undercut portions of a groove 45 disposed onthe inside of the magazine wall in the region of each longitudinal rib20. Between the bottom of these grooves 45 and the synthetic resinstrips 44 there is always disposed a blade spring 46 which presses theassociated synthetic resin strip 44 in the direction towards themagazine interior. The faces of the synthetic resin strips adjacent tothe magazine interior are provided with depressions 47 into which engagethe cartridges 41 in the manner clear from FIGS. 5 and 7.

In the region of the narrow walls recesses 48 and projections 49 areprovided on the end faces of the magazine 15 and are arranged toco-operate with corresponding projections and recesses on the under edgeof the magazine lips 12 in order that the magazine 15 is afforded anaccurately defined position in the duct 1 1.

The magazine 15 is a synthetic resin component which can be producedvery economically; it is used by the ammunition manufacturer aspackaging container and is delivered filled with cartridges 41. Theresilient rails formed by the synthetic resin strips 44 are providedwith the depressions 47 hold the cartridges contained in the magazine 15in a secure manner, so that the magazine can be manipulated without thecartridges contained therein being able to fall out. The spring supportof the synthetic resin strips 44, however, ensures that the syntheticresin strips are pressed outwardly to permit the cartridges to beadvanced by means of the feeder member under the effect of the forceexerted by the feeder spring and do not impede a step by step advance ofthe cartridges.

For inserting the magazine 15 serving as packaging container, or also ofthe packaging container serving as magazine, into the duct 11 the sleeve21 is withdrawn from the duct 11 after release of the pawl 26, until thepawl 26 engages by its lip 27 under the end face 34 at the lower end ofthe longitudinal rail 31. During withdrawal of the sleeve 21 from theduct 11 the feeder member 17 is also displaced from the upper positionillustrated in FIG. 4 by means of the tensioned cable 35. When thesleeve 21 is located in its lowermost position in which the pawl 26engages behind the end face 34 of the end of the rail 31, the sleeve 21uncovers the lateral opening in the duct 11 as far as the upper edge ofthe member 14 and the feeder member 17 is pulled into the interior ofthe end member 14. Without difficulty an emptied magazine 15 can then beremoved and a full magazine substituted therefor. After release of thepawl 26 the sleeve 21 is then returned into its starting position inwhich it is detained by the pawl 26 engaging into the upper interruption32 of rail 31.

By this operation the spacing between the feeder member 17 and the slidecover 22 of the sleeve 21 is reduced and the cable 35 lies loosely inthe interior of the feeder spring 16 as illustrated in FIG. 3. Thus, thefeeder member 17 is then free to be pressed by the feeder spring 16against the lowermost cartridge located in the magazine 15 and to pressthe cartridges as required in the direction to the magazine lips 12 whenthe firearm is actuated.

During the withdrawal of the sleeve 21 from the duct 11 when themagazine has been emptied as well as during the return of the sleeve 21after removal of the magazine the force of the feeder spring 16 actsupon the sleeve 21 by way of the cable 35. The feeder spring 16 tendsthen to pull the sleeve suddenly over the duct, when it is released inthe open position. In order that the marksman cannot suffer injuries bythe suddenly closing sleeve owing to careless handling of the sleeve orhowever when his hand slips off the sleeve, an intermediate interruption33 is provided in the longitudinal rail 31 into which the lip 27 of thepawl 26 drops when the sleeve closes suddenly. In this manner, it isensured that the sleeve is automatically intercepted when its edge stillhas a spacing from the firearm casing which is greater than one fingerwidth, so that even with careless handling of the firearm a fingercannot be clamped between the edge of the sleeve and the firearm casing.

it is clear from the above description that owing to the inventionautomatic hand firearms with interchangeable magazines, have beenafforded a construction which makes it possible to produce magazines inthe form of inexpensive disposable component parts which can servedirectly as packaging containers for the cartridges, without the use ofsuch magazines leading to difficulties. On the contrary, in theconstructional example described one hand and a single manipulation. aresufficient for removing the feeder member ter, by means of a suitabledevice, e.g. again a cable, the feeder member has been moved into thelower section of the magazine duct. Also it is not absolutely necessarythat a more or less closed duct is provided for the magazine, but guideand/or tensioning members are sufficient which hold the magazine betweenthem.

What we claim is:

1. An automatic hand firearm having a magazine support structure fixedthereto and projecting therefrom, said support structure being in theform of a magazine duct comprising magazine lips located at the upperfirearm end of said support structure, a feeder spring means disposed'atthe lower opposite end of said support structure, a cartridge feedermember displaceable in said support structure by said feeder springmeans, and an opening in said support structure intermediate said endsthereof for receiving therein an interchangeable magazine foraccommodating cartridges, said magazines having two open ends, one ofsaid ends being adapted to be engaged by said magazine lips, and theother one of said ends being arranged to be entered by said feedermember, and a hollow end member being disposed in the lower end of themagazine duct and having the walls thereof flush with the walls of aninserted magazine.

2. A hand firearm according to claim 1, wherein a cable projects out ofthe lower end of the magazine duct and is attached to the feeder member.

3. A hand firearm according to claim 2, wherein the magazine duct isprovided with a bottom member on which the feeder spring constructed asa helical compression spring is supported and the cable extends throughan opening in the bottom member.

4. A hand firearm according to claim 2, wherein the magazine duct issurrounded by a sleeve which is telescopically displaceable thereon.

5. A hand firearm according to 4, wherein the cable attached to thefeeder member is attached to the lower end of the sleeve which is closedby a cover.

6. An automatic hand firearm according to claim 1, wherein theinterchangeable magazine is of substantially uniform cross-section andhollow construction to provide a space for accommodating cartridges,said magazine also serving as a packaging container for said cartridges.

7. A magazine according to claim 6, wherein a resilient rail which hasdepressions arranged to suit cartridges inserted therein, is disposed onthe inside of at least one side wall of the hollow body.

8. An automatic hand firearm havinga magazine support structure fixedthereto and projecting therefrom, said support structure being in theform of a magazine duct comprising magazine lips located at the upperfirearm end of said support structure, a feeder spring means disposed atthe lower opposite end of said support structure, a cartridge feedermember displaceable in said support structure by said feeder springmeans,

and an opening in said support structure intermediate saidends thereoffor receiving therein an interchangeable magazine for accommodatingcartridges, said magazine having two open ends, one of said ends beingadapted to be engaged by said magazine lips, and the other one of saidends being arranged to be entered by said feeder member, and themagazine duct being surrounded by a sleeve which is telescopicallydisplaceable thereon.

9. An automatic hand firearm having a magazine support structure fixedthereto and projecting therefrom, said support structure being in theform of a magazine duct comprising magazine lips located at the upperfirearm end of said support structure, a feeder spring means disposed atthe lower opposite end of said support structure, a cartridge feedermember displaceable in said support structure by said feeder springmeans, and an opening in said support structure intermediate 'said endsthereof for receiving therein an interchangeable magazine foraccommodating cartridges, said magazine having two open ends, one ofsaid ends being adapted to be engaged by said magazine lips, and theother one of said ends being arranged to be entered by said feedermember, a sleeve surrounding the magazine duct and being displaceablethereon, the sleeve being closed at the lower end thereof by covermeans, and a cable projecting out of the lower end of the magazine duct,the cable being attached to the feeder member and the lower end of thesleeve.

10. A hand firearm according to claim 9, wherein the sleeve isdetainable on the' duct in the rest position in which it covers theopening provided in the duct for inserting the magazine, andadditionally also in a position in which it uncovers this opening.

11. A hand firearm according to claim 10, wherein a spring loaded pawlis mounted on a wall of the sleeve, a lip of the pawl extending throughthis wall and engaging into detent grooves which are disposed on thefacing wall of the magazine duct.

12. A hand firearm according to-claim 11, wherein a rail is disposed onthe facing wall of the magazine duct and is provided with interruptionsserving as detent grooves.

13. A hand firearm according to claim 11, wherein the spring loaded pawlis mounted on the wall forming the forward side of the sleeve.

14. A hand firearm according to claim 10, wherein a further detainableposition for the sleeve is provided in which the upper edge of thesleeve has a spacing of at least one finger width from one of theabutment faces for this edge and the edge of the opening for insertingthe magazine.

15. An automatic hand firearm having an interchangeable magazine,characterized in that magazine lips as well as a feeder member and afeeder spring are component parts of the firearm and the interchangeablemagazine is in the form of a longitudinally extending hollow body whichis open at both ends and encloses a space serving for accommodatingcartridges, and which is adapted to form directly the packagingcontainer of the cartridges, one end of the magazine being disposedadjacent to the magazine lips and the other end being engaged by thefeeder member, and a resilient rail having depressions arranged to suitcartridges inserted in the magazine is disposed on the inside of atleast one side wall of the hollow body.

16. A magazine according to claim 15, wherein the resilient railconsists of a synthetic resin strip inserted into an undercut groove ofthe side wall, and wherein spring means is disposed between the bottomof the groove and the back side of the strip.

17. A magazine according to claim 15, adapted to receive a double rowcartridge arrangement and provided on two side walls thereof withoppositely disposed resilient rails.

18. A magazine according to claim 15, wherein the magazine is slightlycurved of a substantially constant cross section.

* III

1. An automatic hand firearm having a magazine support structure fixedthereto and projecting therefrom, said support structure being in theform of a magazine duct comprising magazine lips located at the upperfirearm end of said support structure, a feeder spring means disposed atthe lower opposite end of said support structure, a cartridge feedermember displaceable in said support structure by said feeder springmeans, and an opening in said support structure intermediate said endsthereof for receiving therein an interchangeable magazine foraccommodating cartridges, said magazines having two open ends, one ofsaid ends being adapted to be engaged by said magazine lips, and theother one of said ends being arranged to be entered by said feedermember, and a hollow end member being disposed in the lower end of themagazine duct and having the walls thereof flush with the walls of aninserted magazine.
 2. A hand firearm according to claim 1, wherein acable projects out of the lower end of the magazine duct and is attachedto the feeder member.
 3. A hand firearm according to claim 2, whereinthe magazine duct is provided with a bottom member on which the feederspring constructed as a helical compression spring is supported and thecable extends through an opening in the bottom member.
 4. A hand firearmaccording to Claim 2, wherein the magazine duct is surrounded by asleeve which is telescopically displaceable thereon.
 5. A hand firearmaccording to 4, wherein the cable attached to the feeder member isattached to the lower end of the sleeve which is closed by a cover. 6.An automatic hand firearm according to claim 1, wherein theinterchangeable magazine is of substantially uniform cross-section andhollow construction to provide a space for accommodating cartridges,said magazine also serving as a packaging container for said cartridges.7. A magazine according to claim 6, wherein a resilient rail which hasdepressions arranged to suit cartridges inserted therein, is disposed onthe inside of at least one side wall of the hollow body.
 8. An automatichand firearm having a magazine support structure fixed thereto andprojecting therefrom, said support structure being in the form of amagazine duct comprising magazine lips located at the upper firearm endof said support structure, a feeder spring means disposed at the loweropposite end of said support structure, a cartridge feeder memberdisplaceable in said support structure by said feeder spring means, andan opening in said support structure intermediate said ends thereof forreceiving therein an interchangeable magazine for accommodatingcartridges, said magazine having two open ends, one of said ends beingadapted to be engaged by said magazine lips, and the other one of saidends being arranged to be entered by said feeder member, and themagazine duct being surrounded by a sleeve which is telescopicallydisplaceable thereon.
 9. An automatic hand firearm having a magazinesupport structure fixed thereto and projecting therefrom, said supportstructure being in the form of a magazine duct comprising magazine lipslocated at the upper firearm end of said support structure, a feederspring means disposed at the lower opposite end of said supportstructure, a cartridge feeder member displaceable in said supportstructure by said feeder spring means, and an opening in said supportstructure intermediate said ends thereof for receiving therein aninterchangeable magazine for accommodating cartridges, said magazinehaving two open ends, one of said ends being adapted to be engaged bysaid magazine lips, and the other one of said ends being arranged to beentered by said feeder member, a sleeve surrounding the magazine ductand being displaceable thereon, the sleeve being closed at the lower endthereof by cover means, and a cable projecting out of the lower end ofthe magazine duct, the cable being attached to the feeder member and thelower end of the sleeve.
 10. A hand firearm according to claim 9,wherein the sleeve is detainable on the duct in the rest position inwhich it covers the opening provided in the duct for inserting themagazine, and additionally also in a position in which it uncovers thisopening.
 11. A hand firearm according to claim 10, wherein a springloaded pawl is mounted on a wall of the sleeve, a lip of the pawlextending through this wall and engaging into detent grooves which aredisposed on the facing wall of the magazine duct.
 12. A hand firearmaccording to claim 11, wherein a rail is disposed on the facing wall ofthe magazine duct and is provided with interruptions serving as detentgrooves.
 13. A hand firearm according to claim 11, wherein the springloaded pawl is mounted on the wall forming the forward side of thesleeve.
 14. A hand firearm according to claim 10, wherein a furtherdetainable position for the sleeve is provided in which the upper edgeof the sleeve has a spacing of at least one finger width from one of theabutment faces for this edge and the edge of the opening for insertingthe magazine.
 15. An automatic hand firearm having an interchangeablemagazine, characterized in that magazine lips as well as a feeder memberand a feeder spring are component parts of the firearm and theinterchangeable magazine is in the form of a longitudinally extendinghollow body which iS open at both ends and encloses a space serving foraccommodating cartridges, and which is adapted to form directly thepackaging container of the cartridges, one end of the magazine beingdisposed adjacent to the magazine lips and the other end being engagedby the feeder member, and a resilient rail having depressions arrangedto suit cartridges inserted in the magazine is disposed on the inside ofat least one side wall of the hollow body.
 16. A magazine according toclaim 15, wherein the resilient rail consists of a synthetic resin stripinserted into an undercut groove of the side wall, and wherein springmeans is disposed between the bottom of the groove and the back side ofthe strip.
 17. A magazine according to claim 15, adapted to receive adouble row cartridge arrangement and provided on two side walls thereofwith oppositely disposed resilient rails.
 18. A magazine according toclaim 15, wherein the magazine is slightly curved of a substantiallyconstant cross section.